Cranky about Cranking Batteries

[Mad Manny]

This Thread is about Cranking Batteries (the ones that start your vehicle when you turn a key or press the Start button).
It is not for Deep Cycle or High Cycle or other batteries

I find that batteries seem to last 3 - 5 years on average.
2004 COLT 2800D:
20 August 2012 fitted a Willard.
10 September 2015 (3 years1 month later) Willard was done, fitted a Probe (Chinese) battery
11 January 2019 (3 years 3 months later) the Probe was done & I fitted an Atlas (? Chinese) battery

2003 KB300:
July 2016 I fitted a Atlas battery.
Last week (3 years 6 months later) the battery was done. I fitted another Atlas.

KB300 D-Teq:
In December 2016 I fitted an expensive Raylite to my 3.0 D-Teq bakkie.
Last week (3 years 1 month later) it was done. I fitted another Raylite

So none of these batteries (Willard, Probe, Atlas, Raylite) made in past 40 months.

BUT!!!
Fearless:
OEM Battery July 2010 only replaced in December 2015 (5 years 6 months).
That battery is still good now 4 years 1 month later...
This is strange as Fearless getsdriven seldom, usually only on weekends & often stands for 5 to 10 days at a time.

Chatting to the guy at Raylite, I asked if it's true that the Flooded maintenance-Free batteries don't last as long as the one's you can top up.
He didn't know, but he did say they have Maintenance Free batteries come in with dry cells so he said you should still check them.
But then he said, when I asked what the worst batteries were, that Royal don't seem to last a year.
But AFAIK Royal are basically the old battery that you hand in, reconditioned & rebranded.
He didn't seem to know this?

The only good news is that, in real terms, batteries seem to be getting slightly cheaper.

Your views?

[BushWacker]

I was once told that ‘Low Maintenance’
and ‘Maintenance Free’ was sometimes a sales gimmick and if you peeled back the sticker on
top a plain old Pb-Acid plugs sit underneath...

Found this to be true once ... but beware you dont put water into a AGM , gel battery etc!

Best batteries Ive had are 2nd hand (!) AGMs from a Merc and from a ‘Rover’ ... both so branded.
But I didn't use them as crankers all the time. The one is just dying now, but I'm still smart charging it every week or so for load-shedding back-up.

[HenriSteyn]

Current batteries are crap compared to 20 years ago. Dont last more than 3 years.
I bought a brand new 1982 BMW 518 and had it for 12 years. Its first battery lasted 8 years.
When I was studying I used to work for a Spares Shop on weekends an holidays. One guy arrived there one day with a Valiant Fastback looking for a new battery. I happened to ask how old the current one was. In the car since new he said. 12 years.
My worst record was 1 year and 1 week. Exide battery silver calcium in my daughters Mini. One year warranty thank you.
Cheers

[Wave]

I agree, all aftermarket batteries do not last long, sometimes not even the warranty period, i bet its all got to do with repeat business...

Anyway, when my Fortuner needed a new battery I phoned all the battery places around Edenvale and also Toyota.

Because my OEM Toyota battery had lasted 8 years odd, and Toyota had the cheapest battery, I ordered another OEM Toyota battery, let's hope it also lasts 8 years, we're on about 2 years now.

[HenriSteyn]

I agree, all aftermarket batteries do not last long, sometimes not even the warranty period, i bet its all got to do with repeat business...

Anyway, when my Fortuner needed a new battery I phoned all the battery places around Edenvale and also Toyota.

Because my OEM Toyota battery had lasted 8 years odd, and Toyota had the cheapest battery, I ordered another OEM Toyota battery, let's hope it also lasts 8 years, we're on about 2 years now.

Geoff share some more please?
Size and price and where?
Thanks

[Woolf]

George Bosch on the other forum has always maintained that a vehicle's alternator does not fully charge the battery. This has resulted in a lot of criticism directed at him. I have followed his advice and put my cars' batteries on a Ctek charger very 2-3 months. Two observations. When put on the charger there is a charging time of 4-6 hours which implies that the battery is not fully charged despite being in daily use. Since doing this I have only replaced a battery which I killed by running it down completely. The battery in my Jimny has lasted 11 years. (Yuasa from Japan so that may also be a factor)

[Wave]

Geoff share some more please?
Size and price and where?
Thanks

I just phoned my local Toyota (McCarthy Edenvale) spares department, they had to order it in and they still needed the old battery as a trade in.

It's a 746 with the OEM Toyota stickers on, if I recall it was R1390 which, at the time, was about R80 or R90 cheaper than the Willard.

I do suspect that OEM spec a better "internal" makeup of the battery, which is why it lasts longer.

[HenriSteyn]

What I have learned is that most these local batteries are manufactured by First National Battery and then rebranded to Exides and the rest.

Not sure that the OEM will be better than the local battery store

[HenriSteyn]

George Bosch on the other forum has always maintained that a vehicle's alternator does not fully charge the battery. This has resulted in a lot of criticism directed at him. I have followed his advice and put my cars' batteries on a Ctek charger very 2-3 months. Two observations. When put on the charger there is a charging time of 4-6 hours which implies that the battery is not fully charged despite being in daily use. Since doing this I have only replaced a battery which I killed by running it down completely. The battery in my Jimny has lasted 11 years. (Yuasa from Japan so that may also be a factor)

I have installed a digital volt meter in the cabin of my Paj to measure crank battery and aux battery charge voltages.

These read 14. 4 v max when running slightly higher revs but settle at 13.6 v at cruising speeds with the revs at 2200.

This is enough on my Paj

[Mad Manny]

When I replaced the battery on Fearless I shopped around.

Cheapest (also, as Ge'Off says, by only R80.00 odd) was Monument Toyota.

I went there, paid and then went outside and removed the battery (I had to roll start it by that stage).

Then I took the battery in to Spares. Guy said the battery would only arrive in 30mins or I could pop around the corner to the local battery place.
I offered to wait and 15mins later Battery Centre arrived with the battery.

I'll check the brand later...

[LX]

None, but only one of my batteries lasted 5 years, they are normally 3 year (plus a few months), the one that lasted 4.5 years + is a Raylite Battery in my Chev Utility, (Branded AC Delco ), I had another Raylite in the Hilux (Branded Toyota), lasted exactly 3 years.

[LX]

What I have learned is that most these local batteries are manufactured by First National Battery and then rebranded to Exides and the rest.

Not sure that the OEM will be better than the local battery store

Correct, My 2012 Hilux had a Raylite Battery (White case - OEM, just with TOYOTA stickers on it), Aftermarket are Black,

[Wave]

Correct, My 2012 Hilux had a Raylite Battery (White case - OEM, just with TOYOTA stickers on it), Aftermarket are Black,

I still think, that although they come out the same factory, the OEM spec has better internals, you can buy the aftermarket one, but it won't last as long...

[LX]

@Wave, I know what you mean, but it's not true (maybe not all the time), back in the days when I was still "YOUTH", I did a 12 months training that was called "In-Service Training" then, at a certain Famous German Electro-Mechanical Components manufacturer, we manufactured stuff from the same line, and Branded them Mercedes Benz, BMW, VW etc, and the Unbranded ones (Exactly the same as the branded ones) went to after-market and other companies who preferred to do their own branding (off-factory).

[Woolf]

George Bosch on the other forum has always maintained that a vehicle's alternator does not fully charge the battery. This has resulted in a lot of criticism directed at him. I have followed his advice and put my cars' batteries on a Ctek charger very 2-3 months. Two observations. When put on the charger there is a charging time of 4-6 hours which implies that the battery is not fully charged despite being in daily use. Since doing this I have only replaced a battery which I killed by running it down completely. The battery in my Jimny has lasted 11 years. (Yuasa from Japan so that may also be a factor)

I have installed a digital volt meter in the cabin of my Paj to measure crank battery and aux battery charge voltages.

These read 14. 4 v max when running slightly higher revs but settle at 13.6 v at cruising speeds with the revs at 2200.

This is enough on my Paj

Out of interest put the battery onto a smart charger and see how long it takes to reach full charge according to the charger